Environment Secretary Liz Truss said there had been a ‘number of weather-related fatalities’ and the severity of the weather was ‘unprecedented’.

A body thought to be that of an elderly man was discovered in the swollen River Kent in Cumbria, and a 90-year-old man, Ernie Crouch, died after he was apparently blown into the side of a moving bus by strong winds near Finchley Central Tube station in London.

The Met Office said a new record had been set for rainfall over a 48-hour period, with 15.9in (405mm) falling in 38 hours at Thirlmere in Cumbria.

She told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: ‘Is it to do with climate change? There can’t yet be a definitive answer but we know that all the evidence from fundamental physics and what we understand about our weather patterns, that there is potentially a role.’

Disruption caused by the storm looks set to continue, with many roads closed and the West Coast Mainline rail route to Scotland suspended with service unlikely to be restored before Wednesday at the earliest.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Electricity North West said 61,000 properties lost power across Heysham, Morecambe, Carnforth and Lancaster.